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Russia’s coronavirus situation unfolding according to European scenario, says mayor

Moscow’s authorities are confident that the city has not yet reached high coronavirus mortality rates due to the good work the healthcare system

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said that the coronavirus situation in Russia as a whole is unfolding according to the European scenario rather than the Chinese one.

"Over the past month and a half, more than one million people have come to Russia from abroad. Of these, only 120,000 people were Muscovites. Half of these one million people travelled via Moscow and went further to the regions. I believe the Chinese scenario is no longer possible, we are working under the European scenario when the pandemic is inside the country, and we just have to fight to flatten the curve," he said on Saturday in an interview for Nailya Asker-Zade’s "Dangerous Virus" documentary shown by the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

Moscow’s authorities are confident that the city has not yet reached high coronavirus mortality rates due to the good work the healthcare system. "Well, first of all, we are not in the most difficult phase, in the middle or in the initial phase. The healthcare system is doing well, providing high-quality medical care," Sobyanin said when asked about the reason for low mortality compared to other countries.

The mayor noted that Muscovites would recall the coronavirus epidemic as something not very serious about six months after it was over. "When we experience some difficulties, we think that we will remember these difficulties for life, our psychology will change and so on. I am sure though that this problem will end. Six months later, a year later at most, we will recall it as something far away and not very serious," Sobyanin pointed out.

To date, a total of 124,054 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 15,013 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,222 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.